Preview
  • The Black Cat

  • A Richard Jury Mystery
  • By: Martha Grimes
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (318 ratings)

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The Black Cat

By: Martha Grimes
Narrated by: John Lee
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Publisher's summary

Three months have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt- ridden after his lover's tragic auto accident, and he is now more wary than ever. He is deeply suspicious when requested on a case far out of his jurisdiction in an outlying village, where a young woman has been murdered behind the local pub. The only witness is the establishment's black cat, who gives neither crook nor clue as to the girl's identity or her killer's.

Identifying the girl becomes tricky when she's recognized as both the shy local librarian and a posh city escort, and Jury must use all his wits and intuition to determine the connection to subse­quent escort murders.

Meanwhile, Jury's nemesis, Harry Johnson, continues to goad Jury down a dangerous path. And Johnson, along with the imperturbable dog Mungo, just may be the key to it all.

Written with Martha Grimes' trademark insight and grace, The Black Cat signals the thrilling return of her greatest character. The superintendent is a man possessed of prodigious analytical gifts and charm, yet vulnerable in the most perplexing ways.

©2010 Martha Grimes (P)2010 Penguin
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What listeners say about The Black Cat

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    139
  • 4 Stars
    100
  • 3 Stars
    53
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    98
  • 4 Stars
    51
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    24
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    124
  • 4 Stars
    64
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    2

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Jury did it againnisledingly funny and surprising

If you could sum up The Black Cat in three words, what would they be?

misdirecting. clever and fummy

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

the pace was easy

Which scene was your favorite?

the one with the 1 cats in the bar

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

dealing with the sargent

Any additional comments?

love jury and his neighvor

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narration is awful.

The new narrator is terrible. If the next books are narrated by him. I am not sure I will make it through them.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The dog is the smartest one!

british-detective, murder-investigation, friendship, law-enforcement

Three single women discreetly living double lives are murdered and the only connection seems to be the nature of the second job and the wearing of pricey designer shoes. The investigation is twisty and convoluted enough, but there is a side issue with a couple of dogs and some look alike black cats. If you like listening to the conversations among cats and dog, this will suit very well.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Haven't finished it yet....

Would you consider the audio edition of The Black Cat to be better than the print version?

In this instance I'm going to guess the print version is better, since we've become used to hearing Steve West portray all the characters' voices with all their nuances.

If you’ve listened to books by Martha Grimes before, how does this one compare?

Terrible. Horrible narrator. Mr. Lee is simply reading the book to us (and too fast) in a monotonous tone rather than playing out the characters with his voice like we've come to know and love them when read by Steve West.

How could the performance have been better?

Never let anyone besides Steve West narrate this series.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Haven't finished it yet.

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to finish this story so I can stop listening to it. Pleased to see Steve West is back to narrating the next in the series. I've listened to them all up to this point and love the characters as fleshed out by Steve West.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ohh Martha. You dun'it again!

I never tire of Richard Jury and the gang. Live the call backs to The Old Wine Shades.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Tweak your audio settings

The story is worth listening to as hard as it is to hear it butchered by a poor reader. For me the worst is hearing the butler's name pronounced exactly as Agatha pronounces it! Slow down the speed and change audio settings to highest bass and lowest treble to take away the whiny sound.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Need Steve West

Please get Steve West back to narrate. Part of the appeal of audio books is giving characters a personality. Steve West has brought these characters to life and he is needed to continue.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved the book, not the narrator

I think I’ve been spoiled by Steve West who has narrated the other Jury books I’ve purchased. I did not like this narrator though the story is great. It is a bit convoluted with the “thinking/reasoning” dog and cat.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I like Martha grimes

but this was so long. Too long. a good story but not sure I will get another.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Black Cat

The story like all others in the series is very good. However, the narrator, John Lee is new and takes some getting used to. His voice is nice and clear but he reads too fast most of the time and mispronounced Plant's manservant's name throughout the book. It should be pronounced "Riven" not the way he says it. This is aggravating because in previous books they continously correct Agatha ' s mis-pronouncing it (Agatha, you have been shriven by Riven.) It makes it seem like Audible is not concerned with the quality of the recordings. I would recommend Audible use the same narrator for the entire series instead of throwing the listener off by switching near the end of the series. I sure I'm not the only one that likes to listen to the entire series straight through. Another problem that is aggravating is that I have bought the entire series that's available on Audible, but the two books prior to "The Black Cat" are referred to but aren't available in audio versions. Amazon needs to make "The Winds of Change (New York: Viking Penguin, 2004) and The Old Wine Shades (New York: Viking Penguin, 2006)" available in audio so the Audible series can be complete. Throughout the series references are made to previous books and it's really disconcerting to have a block of two books missing. Although each book can be read separately, the following books build on the previous stories and it is designed to be read as a continuous story. Amazon does the readers a disservice by skipping the two books.

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1 person found this helpful